The 'Duterte effect': Curfew turns street in QC into a ghost town

The local curfew ahead of a nationwide implementation by the incoming administration has turned a street in Quezon City into a ghost town.
Instagram user @arviengekanaata posted a photo of the deserted San Isidro Street corner Santol Street in QC.

During the campaign period, then presidential candidate now President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said he will implement a nationwide curfew if elected.

The curfew for unescorted minors will start at 10 p.m. This, according to Duterte's spokesman Peter Lavina, is to keep children off the streets as they should be at home sleeping or preparing for school the following day.

The curfew for liquor sales, he added, is at 1 a.m., to keep the adults from getting drunk too much and become idle and sick with hangover the following morning, while the curfew for loud karaoke is at 9 p.m. to quiet the neighborhood at sleeping time.

Lavina clarified in his post that these rules will be set not because Duterte is a bully dictator. "He has the children, the adults and the community's interest and welfare at heart," he explained.

Quezon City is the most populous city in the Philippines and records show that it has the highest number of index crimes.

Since June 5, 2016, just less than a month before the new president assumes office, more than a hundred individuals have been arrested under the police's Operation Plan (Oplan) Rody, a campaign named after Duterte which means "Rid the streets Of Drinkers and Youths."

It would be great to see residential areas not just in QC but in other cities and municipalities all over the country turn into ghost towns—peaceful and quiet at night—isn't it?